Saturday, January 13, 2007

Humming thru Africa


After a slow start the Team Dakar USA entry has begun picking up its pace. As the announcer on The Speed Report retorted “C’mon, how can that Hummer get Stuck in the Mud?”

In case you were unaware, for the second year in a row (3rd Overall) Robby Gordon is contesting the Paris-Dakar rally in a Hummer.

This year Gordon’s black Hummer H3 got off to a rocky start when he got stuck in some mud on Stage 1 while avoiding some of the massive throngs of spectators in Portugal…

After falling down the order to a 71st starting position for Stage 5, Gordon mashed the “GO-Pedal,” humming his way into a 15th place finish while raising the ire and praise of fellow competitors…

Gordon was reprimanded for pushing opposing racer’s out of the way while utilizing his typical “RASSCAR” driving style… (“Rubbin is Racin”) Apparently with the Hummer painted black, Gordon must have felt a bit like ‘ol “Iron-Head…” (Dale Earnhart Sr.)

Gordon noted that in the Baja that’s how you get it done... (Passing slower vehicles) Yet The Dakar is a bit more civilized, even going so far as utilizing in-car warning devices…

On Stage 6, the constantly changing landscape saw the day’s route take the competitors onto the vast sand dunes. And Gordon’s black bandit hammered across the dunes in record time as Gordon claimed the Stage win…

Today Gordon made certain to give everybody wide berths while overtaking slower vehicles “legally.” Gordon commented that he’d even backed off towards the end as he became concerned over his dwindling petrol supply in the Hummer’s fast emptying tanks…

The stage victory was the very first for Hummer and Gordon’s third overall. Gordon claimed his first two stage victories when competing for Volkswagen in 2005… (Gordon’s Paris-Dakar debut)

Starting first on Stage 7 the inclement weather played major havoc with all competitors as the organizers shortened the route due to swirling wind conditions causing severe sand storms…

Gordon got lost temporarily before encountering soft sand. Gordon then reduced the Hummer’s tire pressures down to 10lbs as the black monster H3 continued bogging down in 2nd gear…

Gordon finished the stage in 13th place nearly 6 minutes off the winner’s pace and has slowly crept his way towards the top 10, now residing in 16th place overall after several days of fuel issues. After the team tore the complete system apart they discovered it was simply a case of bad fuel…